Four candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination expressed their commitment Tuesday night to a human life amendment to the U.S. Constitution. They also promised to endorse legislation to make it clear that 14th Amendment protections apply to unborn children.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul also signed the pledge sought by anti-abortion activists, although he didn’t participate in the event. But activists questioned Paul’s stance after he provided an accompanying statement that said he can’t agreed that the 14th Amendment applies to the unborn “or otherwise we would end up with a Federal Department of Abortion.”

The speakers at Tuesday night’s national teleconference town hall meeting included U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. The National Presidential Pro-Life Forum was hosted by Personhood USA and several of the nation’s top pro-life organizations.

The event was broadcast live on Steve Deace’s nationally syndicated radio program.

Bachman told the listening audience she wanted everyone to know that she respects the dignity of human life.

“This is not a check the box for me. This goes to the core of my conviction,” she added.

Perry said 50 million children have been illegally aborted in the United States, which he called a “great sorrow upon our nation’s conscience.” He spoke proudly of putting his name on a state budget that has defunded Planned Parenthood in Texas and which he said has already resulted in the closure of 12 Planned Parenthood centers in his state.

Santorum underscored his stance by noting that he was a leader on anti-abortion issues during his two terms in the U.S. Senate. He remarked, “I come to my pro- life conviction through both faith and reason that abortion is wrong.”

Gingrich said the issue was “at the center of our existence as a country,” adding, “This is as important of a discussion as we will have.”

Personhood USA said in press release that it requested clarification from the Paul campaign for inconsistencies between his accompanying statement and the pledge language.

The group’s pledge requires that the candidates “stand…with the Republican Party platform in affirming that [they] “support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and endorse legislation to make clear that the 14th Amendment protections apply to unborn children.”

Regarding the latter, Rep. Paul told the group that “The Fourteenth Amendment was never intended to cancel out the Tenth Amendment. This means that I can’t agree that the Fourteenth Amendment has a role to play here, or otherwise we would end up with a ‘Federal Department of Abortion.’”

The 14th amendment, which protects individual liberties from state encroachment, requires that: “No State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

“We should allow our republican system of government to function as our Founders designed it to: protect rights at the federal level, enforce laws against violence at the state level,” Paul wrote.

Anti-abortion activists said they were left wondering how a President Paul would seek to protect the right to life in states that would choose to continue to allow abortion if Roe vs. Wade is overturned